Drawn to the past
by Diabolo Framboise
Summary: Toby has been distracted lately and Happy is concerned. She decides to follow him to know what he's up to. What will she find out? One shot.
**Hi everyone! Here's a little one shot about my new favorite ship :-) I haven't written anything since my Klaroline fics a few years ago so I hope I'm not too rusty.**

 **A big thank you to scorpion-life who helped me with the grammar and provided a title.**

* * *

Toby had been distracted lately and Happy was concerned. It wasn't his usual behavior to be quiet. Toby was always the one who never stopped talking about anything and everything, much to Happy's dismay most of the time. She was finding out the hard way that she actually didn't like his sudden quietness that much. She was used to Toby being open and sharing since she was bad at expressing herself and this change in his behavior was bothering her.

She had hesitantly tried to broach the subject but Toby had deflected with a gentle smile, saying he was just tired. It was perfectly true that they had worked more than normal lately and they were all exhausted, but she could tell that there was something more than just tiredness.

Happy was not good with words, but she was good with actions. If Toby refused to tell her what was wrong she would have to find out by herself. It was for this very reason that she had decided to follow him after he told her he had an errand to run. She was no behaviorist, but she knew him well enough to tell that he was keeping something to himself.

Happy was aware that it wasn't a very normal thing to do, to follow your boyfriend instead of finding out the truth from him, but they weren't exactly regular people, were they? And Toby had put a tracking device in her cell phone without telling her after all. That would be her line of defense if he found out about this anyway.

Happy followed him with her truck, being careful to not be seen and thanking the dense traffic that was helping to hide her vehicle. Toby stopped his car a little bit out of town and her heart fell when she saw it was in front of a casino.

No. It couldn't be true. He wouldn't do that to her. To them. He had promised.

Happy quickly worked on hacking the security footage of the casino on her laptop and she noticed that her hands were shaking. Her hands never shook. She had the steadiest hands in the world. She was able to drill a perfect hole in a quantum without breaking a sweat knowing the tiniest tremor would crush her to death, but the sight of her boyfriend entering a casino was putting her in a panicked state that she has never known before.

She spotted Toby on the camera and observed that he knew where he was going. It wasn't surprising but her stomach twisted anyway. Happy was way too rational to believe in anything other than math and science, but she caught herself saying a little prayer that she was wrong about what she thought was happening in this casino.

Toby exchanged a few words with a security guard who directed him towards a specific office. Happy quickly worked on finding the right camera to follow him on her screen, but it took her a couple of minutes. She cursed under her breath, wishing that Sylvester could help but she didn't want to involve anyone in this. By the time she could hack into the right camera, Toby was in front of a desk and was handing a bundle of bills to the man behind it. The sounds from the camera took a couple seconds more to kick in and she caught the last half of the man's sentence.

"…wasn't expecting it anymore!"

Toby nodded sharply.

"I'm grateful for the extension you gave me, but as you know I always pay my debts. Thank you for being patient, I appreciate it."

The man behind the desk smiled.

"You have always been one of my biggest and best players, that's why I granted this extension, I knew you would pay."

Happy's brain was running full speed. So he was here to settle a debt? She knew he still has some around town but why wouldn't he tell her? Was he worried that she would be mad at him? She didn't like him being in this place alone and especially without telling her. He wasn't breaking any promises but she hated that he was there anyway.

Toby turned to the door and Happy was ready to breath a sigh of relief when the man behind the desk called him back. He took a deck of cards from a drawer and dangled it in front of Toby.

"Come on, man, I haven't seen you in ages, come and play a little poker with me. I can have a couple players here in minutes."

Toby inhaled sharply as Happy's heart sank in her chest. Her whole body tensed painfully and she gripped her laptop so hard she almost broke it.

"Get out of there," she ordered mentally "get out of there now. Don't ruin it Toby, please don't ruin it."

Toby shook his head.

"No thanks, I don't play anymore."

His voice was firm but he instinctively took a step towards the desk and the man noticed .

"What do you mean you don't play anymore?" he asked mockingly. "You are one of the best players I know, don't be ridiculous".

Toby shook his head again but his gaze was fixed on the cards.

"Come on, I will offer you a double or nothing," the other man pursued tantalizingly and Happy felt the sudden urge to hit him on the head with a wrench.

"Let him go," she yelled at her screen. "Let him go. Let him go now!"

Toby took another step towards the desk and Happy suddenly went from angry to devastated. She felt tears pooling in her eyes and she realized that she was cold. Her whole body was shivering and she had difficulty breathing. She clenched her hands together to try to stop them from shaking and she gripped so hard that her nails pierced the skin of her palm. She didn't even notice it. She was entirely focused on trying to contain the pain threatening to rip her heart out. Nothing had ever hurt like this iron fist gripping her heart and twisting it.

She could handle bombs, she could handle bullets, she could handle chemical weapons, but she couldn't handle the man she cared about so much being that close to being ripped from her.

On the other side of the screen the man was continuing his tormenting speech.

"You can't stop playing, Toby. The gambling is in your blood. You are an addict and you're a fool if you think otherwise. You need it. You crave it. I know you."

Toby clenched his fists and Happy could literally see the strong desire exuding from his whole body. The deck of cards seemed to draw him like a magnet and his breathing grew short.

An unwanted tear rolled down Happy's cheek and for the second time this evening she caught herself praying.

"Please don't do this," she whispered weakly. "Please don't do this to us. Please Toby, I need you."

Toby suddenly smiled and shook himself like he was coming out of a trance. His whole posture gradually relaxed and he breathed deeply, taking another step towards the desk.

"You are right, I crave it," he admitted. "Gambling is in my blood and will always be, but you see, now I have something in my life, someone that I crave even more than gambling."

Happy inhaled sharply, pressing her face to the screen of her laptop, unconsciously trying to get closer to Toby.

"I am in love with the most incredible woman I have ever known and I have no idea why, but she seems to like me back," Toby continued. "So hell if I'm gonna ruin it. Stopping the gambling is hard I will admit, but losing her would be so much worse. I can live without gambling but there is no way on earth I can live without her."

Toby smiled again, seeming at peace for the first time since he had entered the room.

Happy didn't even take a second to think. Barging out of her truck, she ran like a madwoman inside the casino, driven by one only thought: find Toby. She shoved a few people on her way, eliciting annoyed complaints but she couldn't care less. Her whole mind was set on just one thing. Toby. Toby. Toby. The man who just rejected something he missed like hell just for her. The man who was able to fight his worst cravings just for her. The man who put her first whatever he was doing. The man who would do anything for her. The man who loved her like nobody ever did.

She spotted him walking down a corridor and he lifted his head, his peripheral vision drawn to this person who seemed to be running for their life. His face fell when he saw Happy and he lifted his hands in defeat.

"This is not what you think it is, Happy, I swear I didn't…"

His sentence was short cut by Happy throwing herself in his arms and knocking his breath out by pushing him against the wall, crushing her lips to his. Toby was at loss about what was happening, but he instinctively wrapped his arms around her frame and pressed back on her mouth. There was such desperation in her kiss, such need and most of all, such intense relief that it frightened him. When Happy finally pulled back he looked at her anxiously.

"Happy? What is it, my love?"

Happy exhaled deeply, trying to regain control over these emotions she wasn't used to feeling and failed miserably.

"I love you."

Those three little words, softly breathed in a tender voice he had never heard her use before knocked the air out of him. His heart swelled and constricted and swelled again and probably for the first time in his life, he was unable to say a word. Happy didn't seem to mind though as she smiled lovingly at him, a special and breathtaking smile that was only for him. Rising on her tiptoes she went back to his mouth, peppering it with tender kisses, pouring all her feelings in her touch. She had always thought that saying I love you was the scariest thing in the world and it was the reason why she hadn't say it to anybody before. But here and now, securely wrapped in Toby's arms and feeling his mouth moving with hers, she thought that with him, it wasn't that scary anymore.

* * *

 **Please let me know what you think, reviews are one of the greatest things on earth :-)**


End file.
